Rulers Condemned in their Own Courts

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Well, those of you that know me know I like to read, and I read my Bible in such a way that I read it existentially.
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I read it as if I'm in the narrative.
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And there was a point in time when I used to try to read regular books, and because I read books that way, I was reading Western books.
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So as I was reading Western books, I was reading through the books of Exodus, and had a dream that Moses was riding across the plains with a shotgun on a horse.
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So I, at that point, decided it was no longer should I be reading any more other books, and I stuck strictly to the Scripture.
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It's going to be very hard for you to follow me through the text tonight, and here's the reason why.
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What I have done when Keith asked that I want to preach two weeks ago, I says, oh, well, I know what I'll do.
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I will harmonize the trials of Jesus, thinking it was going to be no big deal.
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Well, it wound up being some 80 verses.
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And sometimes you get through to Matthew in verse 38 and 39, and you have to insert a section of Mark, which is five or six verses, and then you move from there to John 18.
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So if you, I will land at the last, I'm sorry, I will land in John 19, verses 1 through 18.
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That's where I will end.
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But I'm going to read the narrative, and I'm not going to make an exposition of the whole thing because time would not allow, but we are going to walk through the text.
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And I normally come in with six pages of notes, and I'll let you know I got six pages of Scripture.
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So I will try to reel it in at some point.
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And this is after Judas had betrayed and delivered the Savior over to the Roman soldiers and to the commanders in the office.
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And here's where the texts will start.
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It says, and the commander of the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him.
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They led him to Annas first.
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He was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.
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Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people.
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The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching.
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And Jesus answered him and said, I have spoken openly into the world, and I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple and wherever the Jews had come together, and I spoke nothing in secret, so why do you question me? Question those who heard what I said.
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Question those whom I spoke to, for they know what I said.
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And when he had said this, one of the officers standing nearby struck Jesus, saying, is this a way that you would answer the high priest? And Jesus answering to him, he said, if I have spoken wrongly, testify of what I have said that was wrong.
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But if I am right, why did you strike me? So Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest.
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Those who had seized Jesus led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered themselves together.
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Now the chief priest and the whole council kept trying to obtain some type of false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death.
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They could not find any, even though many fault witnesses had come forward.
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But later, two came forward, and they said, this man stated openly that I am to destroy the temple of God, and in three days I will rebuild it.
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The high priest stood up, and he said, do you not answer? Do you not want to testify against those who are testifying against you? But Jesus kept silent.
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The high priest said to him, I adjourn you by the living God, and to tell us whether you are the Christ, the son of the living God.
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And Jesus said, if I tell you, you would not believe.
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And if I was to ask you a question, you would not give me an answer.
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But from now on, this is what you will see.
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You will see the son of man seated at the right hand of the power of God on high.
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And then they said to him, are you the son of God? And Jesus said to them, yes, I am.
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And then they said, what further need of testimony do we have? Well, you've heard it out of your own mouth.
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And the high priest tore his robes.
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He said, you blasphemer.
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What further need of witnesses? Behold, you have heard it for yourself.
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He is blasphemed.
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And he looked around and he said, what do you think? And they answered, he deserves death.
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And they spat on his face.
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They beat him.
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They punched him with their fist.
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They slapped him.
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And then they said, prophesy to us, you Christ, which one of us just hit you? And then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium.
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And it was early, and they themselves did not enter the praetorium, for they did not want to defile them, because they still wanted to eat at the Passover feast.
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Therefore, Pilate went out to them and said, what accusation do you bring against this man? And they answered and said to him, if this man was not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him to you.
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And they began to accuse him, saying, we found him misleading our nation, forbidding him to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that he himself is the Christ, he is a king.
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So Pilate said to them, take him yourselves, judge him according to your own law.
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And the Jews said to him, we are not permitted to put anyone to death.
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And this was said in order to fulfill the words which Jesus spoke, signifying what type of death he was going to die.
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And then Pilate said to the chief priest, I find no guilt in this man.
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Therefore Pilate again entered into the praetorium.
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He summoned Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus answered and said, are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you this about me? And Pilate answered and said to him, am I not a Jew? Am I? Your own nation and your own chief priest have delivered you to me.
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What have you done? So Pilate asked him, saying, are you the king of the Jews? And he said to him, it is as you say.
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Jesus answered and said, my kingdom is not of this world.
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For if my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not have been handed over to you by the Jews.
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But as my kingdom is not of this realm.
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Therefore Pilate said to him, so you are a king.
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And Jesus said to him, you have said correctly, I am a king.
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And for this very purpose, I have was born.
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And for this purpose, I have come into the world that I would testify of the truth.
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And everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.
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And Pilate said to him, what is truth? And when he said this, he went out again to the Jews and he said, I want you to understand, I find no fault in him.
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But they kept on insisting, saying he stirs up the people, he's teaching it all over Judea and he started it in Galilee and he's ended up here in this place.
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And when Pilate heard it, he asked whether the man was a Galilean and when he had learned that he was a Galilean and that he belonged under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, for Herod was in Jerusalem for the time of the feast.
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Now, Herod was exceedingly glad to see Jesus, for he had wanted to see him for a very long time because he had been hearing about the wonderful things he had been done and he wanted to see a sign performed in front of him.
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And he questioned Jesus at some length and Jesus answered him nothing.
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And the chief priest and the scribes were standing there and they kept accusing Jesus vehemently.
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And Herod with his soldiers, after treating him with great contempt and mocking him, they dressed him in a gorgeous robe, sent him back to Pilate.
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Now, Herod and Pilate became great friends on that day.
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To run to that point, they had been bitter enemies.
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Pilate then summoned the chief priest and the rulers of the people and said to them, said to them, you brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion and behold, having examined him before you, I find no guilt in this man regarding any charge that you have brought against him.
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No, not even Herod has, for he has sent him back to me.
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And behold, nothing deserving of death has been found in this man.
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Therefore, I will punish him and I will release him.
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It was at this time that Pilate was obliged to release one during the feast who would be a prisoner.
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And they cried out to him all together, away with this man, but release Barabbas.
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Barabbas had been thrown into prison for insurrection within the city and he was a murderer and a robber.
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Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again and they kept crying out all the more, crucify him, crucify him.
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And he said once again, I have a custom in which I'll release one person to you who is a prisoner at Passover.
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Who do you want me to release to you for the king of the Jews? And they cried out again saying, we do not want this man, give us Barabbas.
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Barabbas was a murderer and a robber.
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And he said the third time to them, why, what evil has this man done? I have found no guilt demanding of death within him.
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Therefore, I will punish him and I'm going to release Jesus.
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Pilate then took Jesus, he scourged him.
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The soldiers then twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head, put a purple robe on him and they began to come up to him and slap him in his face and say, hail, king of the Jews.
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Pilate then come out again and he said to him, behold, I'm bringing him out to you so that you may know, here it is again, I find no guilt in him.
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Jesus then came out wearing a crown of thorns and a purple robe and Pilate said to him, behold the man.
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So when the chief priest and the officer saw him, they cried out saying, crucify him, crucify him.
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And Pilate said, take him yourself and you crucify him for I find no guilt in this man.
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The Jews answered him, we have a law and by that law he ought to die and he ought to die because he made himself out to be the son of God.
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And when Pilate heard this statement, he was terrified.
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He then entered the praetorium again and he said to Jesus, where are you from? And Jesus gave him no answer.
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So Pilate said to him, do you not speak to me? Do you not know I have the authority to release you and the authority to crucify you? And Jesus answered and said to him, you have no authority over me unless it had been given to you from my father above and for this reason he who delivered me to you has the greater sin.
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And as a result of this, Pilate made great efforts to release Jesus, but the Jews cried out all the more.
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If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar and everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.
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Therefore when Pilate heard these things, he brought Jesus out to them.
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He set him on the judgment seat that at the place of the pavement in the Hebrew word called Gabbatha.
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So when the people gathered together, Pilate said to them, whom do you want me to release for you, Barabbas or Jesus, the one who is called the Christ? And he knew that because of envy that the chief priests and the scribes and the Pharisees had delivered him over to him.
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And when he was sitting in the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message saying, have nothing to do with this righteous man, for I suffered great things in a dream over him.
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But the chief priest and the elders persuaded the crowds all the more to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death.
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But Pilate said again to them, which of these two do you want me to release to you? And they said, Barabbas.
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Pilate said to them, then what shall I do with this Jesus who is called the Christ? And they said again to him, crucify him.
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And he said, why, what evil has this man done? And they kept shouting all the more, crucify him.
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And when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning to break out, he took water, he washed his hands in front of the people and said, I am innocent of this man's blood, you see to it yourself.
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That was the day of the preparation for the Passover, and it was about the sixth hour.
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And he said to the Jews, behold your king.
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And they cried out, away with him and away with him, crucify him.
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And Pilate said to them, shall I crucify your king? And the chief priest answered and said to him, we have no king but Caesar.
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So Pilate then delivered him over to be crucified.
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Let's pray.
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Father God, thank you for your word.
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Thank you for that good Friday and what a good Friday it was.
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Thank you for sending your son, Father, completely innocent to bear the sins of his people.
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God be with me now, keep me from error.
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I pray that the word of God would penetrate our hearts, called us to love you more.
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And for those in this room that do not know you, God, I pray that they would be terrified in the wrath, seeing that what you did to your own son is what awaits those who do not believe.
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In your name we pray, amen.
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Christianity is an odd religion, the only religion in all the world that celebrates the death of their king.
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Here we are.
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There's churches all over the world right now meeting, celebrating the crucifixion of their king.
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Seems somewhat morbid.
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You read through that and it is tough to just hear how many times the man who in all of history through the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed from the first century and second century has constantly said that he suffered under Pontius Pilate.
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Eight times Pontius Pilate said, I don't know if you heard it, eight times, I find no guilt in that man.
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You're going to see that these rulers of that time were condemned in their own courts.
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And we're going to begin where we were at with the high priest in the Sanhedrin.
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Jesus was drug off, in chains bound, probably slapped around before he got there, and it says he entered Annas' house.
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Well, Annas, as you read through the narratives of those, you see it in some passages, it says that Annas was the high priest and Caiaphas was the high priest.
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Annas had been deposed by Rome because he had put people to death without the consent of Rome.
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So Rome deposed Annas and put Caiaphas in his place.
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So basically, you had two high priests, if there was an issue that was going on, they would go to Annas first.
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He was like High Priest Emeritus or something ridiculous like that.
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And he would be the first one they would talk to.
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So you see they take him to Annas, he has nothing to say to him, so they take him to Caiaphas.
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They are standing before the Sanhedrin.
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You do realize that he is standing before the very men that early in Jesus' ministry sent Nicodemus to them to say this to Jesus.
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He came to him, he says, we know, we teachers know that you've been sent from God and you wouldn't be doing all the stuff that you're doing if God had not sent you.
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This is the same Sanhedrin that now desires to crush Jesus.
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They'd planned to try, or wanted many attempts to try to kill him all through the Gospels.
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But if you were to read through your Bible, you get to John 7, you see it really begins to escalate.
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John 7 takes place about six months before the actual event of the crucifixion.
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And it's at the time when Jesus' brothers all mock him and say, hey, if you're going to be the Christ and you're this guy, why don't you make yourself known.
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And Jesus says, right now is not the time.
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And at that time it was the great temple, it was the great feast of the tabernacles.
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And Jesus says, y'all go on and I'll catch up.
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But it was at that point that Jesus, halfway through the feast, stands up in the temple and cries out with a loud voice, you all want to kill me.
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And people look around and go, this guy is crazy.
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This is the miracle guy.
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Who is he saying wants to kill him? And it's at that point that they then begin to seek Caiaphas, how am I going to be able to extinguish this man? These are the people in which Jesus stands before.
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Jesus then says, hey, you've heard all my teaching, you've heard anything I've said.
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I've never said anything in private.
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I've not tried to raise up an insurrection against you.
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Matter of fact, don't ask me what I said, why don't you ask everybody that I spoke to? Ask them.
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And not only ask them, bring them here and let them speak for themselves.
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What Jesus was actually doing, these were teachers of the law.
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He was saying, hey, don't let me speak for myself.
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Let whatever I've been said be confirmed by two or three witnesses.
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He was wanting the Mosaic law to stand on its own.
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And what did they do? No part of it.
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And then one of them backhands the Savior and they send him on his way.
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They get him to Caiaphas, false accusation to try to be brought up.
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He tells the Lord Jesus of all things, he goes, I adjourn you under the living God.
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Can you imagine saying that to the God of all creation? I adjourn you, you speak to me.
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And Jesus remained silent.
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But listen to what he says when he gets here.
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He says, the next time you see me, it's going to be in judgment.
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It was sealed.
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Caiaphas, all those scribes and Pharisees, it was a done deal.
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They had rejected the Messiah.
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And he says this, and there's one question here.
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And they all asked, are you the son of God? These are the final words they ever hear from Jesus directed straight to them.
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Yes, I am.
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Muslims make all kinds of saying, Jesus never claimed to be God.
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It's right there.
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Jesus said, yes, I am.
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And in a moment of grandstanding, what does the high priest do? Tears his garments.
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As if he wasn't prepared to do that already.
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Like some grandstanding politician and lawyer.
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But then the abuse begins.
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He said they spat on his face, they beat him, they slapped him, and they took him to Pilate.
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Pilate's an obscure individual.
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We don't know much about Pilate.
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We wouldn't have known any archaeological evidence about Pilate up until about 1960.
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And there was a stone that was unearthed at Caesarea Maritima, which actually had his name on it.
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And it says this was the place of Pontius Pilate, Pontificus, or something ridiculous like they say.
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And it was actually bringing to fact that not only does history have writings of him, but an actual archaeological artifact of who he was.
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We would not know who Pontius Pilate was because he is, by and large, an insignificant figure if it was not for the Lord Jesus Christ.
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So they led him to Caiaphas.
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From Caiaphas to the Praetorium.
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The Praetorium was a place where the Romans would meet while they were in Jerusalem, some people believe that was in Herod's palace.
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I don't believe that's where it was at at this particular time where they were meeting, I believe it was in Fortress Antonia because we'll go on to read that Herod actually was in Jerusalem at the time, so he probably was not in Herod's palace with Herod.
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So he was probably at Fortress Antonia, which is on the northwest corner of the temple grounds, which is why Pilate was there.
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He was there to overlook the temple complex so that during this great liberation feast of the Passover, there would not be an uprising.
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That's why he was there, to keep security.
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So they take Jesus to the Praetorium and it says that they would not enter the Praetorium, speaking of the the chief priests and the Pharisees, because they did not want to defile themselves.
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That's very ironic that here it is, these people don't want to defile themselves by walking into where a Goyim is, a Gentile, but here it is, they've got the biggest sinister plan to murder the Son of the Living God.
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And then Pilate says, what accusation do you bring against this man? And listen to the rank hypocrisy.
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Do you think we would bring someone who's an evildoer to you? They're accusing Pilate of accusing them for something they're actually doing.
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It's like the rank hypocrisy.
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And they begin to say, well, we found him misleading the people, forbidding taxes.
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One, Jesus never misled the nation.
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He told them they had false shepherds, and they had false teachers, and to beware.
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And a lot of times he told them, don't do what they do, do what they say, because they did teach the law.
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It was just all the the fencing in the law that they did that was erroneous.
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And he never said, do not pay taxes to Caesar.
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Matter of fact, Tuesday of this very week, Jesus on the Temple Mount, they come to him and say, is it lawful to pay taxes? And Jesus said, show me a coin.
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And somebody had to cough up a coin.
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What I think's really funny is they had to cough up a coin, and somebody on the Temple Mount had a coin that had Tiberius Caesar's picture on it.
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And he says, well, whose picture's on it? And it was Tiberius Caesar.
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He goes, then you pay him.
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Whose ever inscriptions on there, that's who you give it to.
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And then it said he made himself out to be a king.
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And then Pilate says this to them, all right, if that be the case, you take him and you you judge him according to your own law.
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It's right here that Pilate figures out that they don't want to just judge this man.
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They want to kill him.
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Because he says right here, well, we're not permitted to put anyone to death.
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When Rome would go in and they would conquer all these nations and these other little providences, they would go in and the first thing that they would do before they put a prefect or a governor in there is they would pull back the right of the sword and leave that only to Rome.
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That is actually why, remember a few minutes ago, I said Andrus was deposed because he had he had enacted the death penalty on some Jews.
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This is extra biblical writings, had enacted the death penalty when he should not have.
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And Rome says, you don't do that.
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The right of the sword is left to us.
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So he said, you judge him according to your law.
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He said, we can't kill him.
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It's basically what they said.
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And this one, why wouldn't they kill him? It's not just because they don't want their hands dirty.
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And how do we know that's not because they don't want their hands dirty? Because the next verse tells us it was done this way so that the way that Jesus prophesied he would die, it would happen.
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That's why.
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It says that Jesus would not be thrown down and stoned.
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It says that Jesus would be lifted up, not thrown down.
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Pilate then says to the chief priest, here it is for the first time, he says, I find no guilt in this man.
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No guilt.
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And he goes on, he says, are you king of the Jews? He said, all right, Jesus, come in here.
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Are you a king of the Jews? And Jesus didn't answer him.
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And he said, are you king of the Jews? And Jesus said, it is as you say.
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He says, but have you, did you learn that on your own? Or did someone tell you that? Do you think that Pilate probably had heard about Jesus at this point? Sure.
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We know this is the first time he encountered Christ.
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But he had probably heard.
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I mean, it says back in, I think it's in the book of the gospel of Luke that when he had raised to life the widow of Nain's son, you remember what happened? It says great fear went across the nation because they said that God had visited his people and it was in Judea.
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Well, who was the governor of Judea? Pilate.
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So it is no doubt that he would have had to have known some knowledge that this man in a movement, he was the most, probably the most popular preacher and man going about Judea at that time for three years.
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I mean, he was going around healing people.
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Whatever he did, he was going sometimes to heal a whole city.
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That word would get around.
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And that's something for us to consider.
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As Jesus asked him, did you learn that on your own or is it secondhand? I ask you this.
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Do you believe in Jesus because it's been confirmed to you or do you believe in Jesus because it's secondhand knowledge? Do you believe because your husband wants you to believe? Do you believe because your wife wants you to believe? Children, do you believe because mom and dad believe or has God confirmed it in your heart to believe? That is a question we should all ask.
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Why do you believe in Jesus? And who do you believe this Jesus is? And then he says, so you are a king.
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And Jesus says, you're right.
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I am a king.
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And he said, if my kingdom were of this world, my people would come fight for me.
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Andy on Sunday touched on this when he talked about the misconception of the kingdom of God.
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And the misconception was that Jesus was going to come or this messianic figure was going to come and he was going to set up a government and he was going to stamp out the heel of Rome with the heel of the Jew.
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And the misconception was he is not coming as a military leader.
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And Jesus even says that right here, my kingdom is not of this world.
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If it were so, my people would fight for me.
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Jesus just hours before this rebuked Peter for pulling out a sword and whacking off Malchus's ear.
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And then Jesus puts his ear back on.
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What a miracle.
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Pardon me, wishes he'd whacked his head off and watch Jesus hit his head back on there.
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He could have done it.
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And then he says, what you have said is correct.
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I am a king.
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And he says, for this very purpose I was born and for this purpose I was sent.
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Right here we see in that verse Jesus was born.
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That's his humanity.
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People that come into this world are born.
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We don't just come down on a time capsule.
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Neither did the Lord Jesus.
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He was born.
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He was a human being, flesh and blood.
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Got tired, weary, hungry, sweaty, nasty, dirty feet.
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But then he says, but for this very purpose I was sent.
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That means he came from somewhere else.
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He was born.
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There was a time in which Jesus became a man.
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But there was a time when he was not a man and he was nothing but God.
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But right here he is fully God, fully man.
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And he says, this is the purpose I come into the world, Pilate, to testify of the truth.
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Because everyone who hears the truth hears my voice.
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That's very reminiscent of what he said, does my sheep hear my voice and they come to me? People that love the truth, Jesus said, will come to me.
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They will come to me.
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And as he testified of the truth, they would come to him.
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And then you have Pilate say this, what is truth? That's a good question.
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What is truth? Little did he know that the man in front of him was the very embodiment of everything that was true.
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And everything that was true came from the fountain of truth that was standing in front of him.
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And I do believe at this point, and I am no Pilate sympathizer through this, so I just want you to understand.
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But I do believe at this point, Pilate's going, what is going on? What is true and what is false? I have this man who is standing here with a demeanor who's already been beat and slapped.
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Understand, you don't think Pilate has saw the swollen face? Not seeing probably the sweat that dried from the blood capillaries had gone down his face? It says they spit on him.
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You don't think there was signs of hundreds of men with spit all over his body, his beard? And he's going, man what is going on? He says, what is truth? It's a question that we should all ask.
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What is truth? Everybody in this world spends their life wanting to know what's truth.
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Because everything's fake news, fake this, fake that.
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Spend lives searching out what's true, seeking false religions to find out that at the end of the day, all of them depend on you being good and nobody's good.
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Spend hours and weeks on end, if you add them together, falling into the black hole of YouTube, trying to find out what's true.
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Or get caught in the trap of TikTok and can't get out.
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Instead of picking up the Word of God and reading it and seeing what's true and making decisions based on what is truth and what's error.
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And then spend hours on end on video games, killing terrorists, playing games on Netflix, and then say you don't have time to read the Word of God.
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You do have time to read God's Word.
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It's true.
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You make time.
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You make time.
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I'm a busy man.
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When I say that, I'm not tooting my own horn.
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I'm a bare minimum.
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My wife's here to testify.
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70 hours a week, I make time to read the Word of God.
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I can't put it down.
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There was a time I took my Bible and went, tough time of my life, I'm gonna leave it be.
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I'm just in like a magnet every morning.
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Could not.
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That was the meaning of life.
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That's where I was going to find how to get over the things in my life.
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It was in that book that was going to lead and guide me.
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So you do have time.
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So you ask, what is truth? It's in the Word of God and it will lead and guide you.
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And then Pilate goes out again and he said to them, I find no guilt in him.
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Second time.
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They kept on insisting, stirs up the people.
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He teaches them all kinds of crazy stuff in Judea, but he started it in Galilee.
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And Pilate said, hold on a second.
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You said Galilee? Well, if he's a Galilean, I'll just send him to Herod because Herod's who's his governor.
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He's like, all right, here's the first tactical move.
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I'm sorry, the second tactical move of Pilate to not deal with the situation.
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First was you do it under your own law.
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They couldn't do it.
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Now he's saying, well, I'll just send him down the road and let somebody else deal with Jesus.
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So he says, all right, well, if Herod's here, let's send him on to Herod.
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All right.
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Well, let's see what Jesus has to say to Herod.
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It says, Herod was very glad to see Jesus.
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That sounds like a good thing at the start, doesn't it? Man, this dude was glad to see Jesus.
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Well, just being glad to see Jesus doesn't make things good.
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It says he wanted to see him for a long time because he had been hearing great things about him and hoping he would see a great sign performed in front of him.
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Herod wanted to see a trick.
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Herod wanted to see somebody raised from the dead.
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He wanted to see some magical sign.
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No, that's not what was going to take place.
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You understand that Herod had the preaching of John the Baptist in his life.
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He not only had the preaching of John the Baptist whenever he wanted, it actually said he would get John and have him preach to him.
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So he liked hearing the Word of God preached.
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But then not only that, his household manager, Cusa, actually his wife Joanna, if you remember the Marys and all the ones that used to support Jesus with their money, Joanna was actually healed by Jesus.
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So can you imagine that conversation? Here this dude doing whatever he's doing in his household, being his household manager, doing whatever he's doing.
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Hey man, how's your wife? Dude, you ain't Jesus healed her.
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So he knew that this man Jesus was the real deal.
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So he gets Jesus there and he wants a trick.
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Just like everybody else wants a trick.
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Everybody else wants to see somebody do something.
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Jesus was no charlatan.
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Jesus was no miracle worker like you see on TV.
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He was no fake.
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We were in the paint store a number of years ago.
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Came in early.
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That was one of the biggest stores in Jacksonville.
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Everybody would meet there in the morning.
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Kind of get all your stuff.
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And if painters needed to work, you could pick a couple up and go.
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And this guy was just going on man about, you know, he speaking in tongues and holding his hands like this.
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Look at these hands.
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They got the power to heal.
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And he could tread on serpents and drink poison.
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And at that point, I could take it no more.
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I walked right over there.
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I grabbed some lacquer thinner off the counter and said, drink it.
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Put your faith where your mouth is.
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Drink it.
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And he said, I'm not gonna do that.
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Okay.
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Well, you said you had the faith to move mountains.
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I want you to move all about blinds and shutters over there by Dunkin Donuts.
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He said, I can't do that.
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Wait a minute.
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You just stood here.
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And when I say there's probably 30 or 40 people in that store.
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I said, wait a minute.
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You just boasted about all this power that God had given you.
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I said, all right.
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Well, you said you had the power to heal.
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Let's get in my truck.
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You got the power to heal.
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I love to preach the gospel.
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We're going to go down there to Wilson's hospital and we're going to set all them kids free.
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He said, I ain't going to jail.
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Buddy, I'll go to jail for that.
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And at that point, I got a little hot.
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I was angry.
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I said, you know why you won't? It's because you're a fake.
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That's why.
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Jesus standing before Herod and not doing anything is not, Jesus is not a fake man.
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Jesus was the real deal.
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But Jesus remained silent.
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He didn't say a word to Herod.
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Herod at his birthday had a party, had a girl dance for him.
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Everybody was happy.
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Everybody was getting and Herod Antipas gives her a stripper proposition.
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And when I say she was dancing, they wasn't doing the Macarena.
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All right.
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They wasn't doing the electric boogaloo.
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He gives her a stripper proposition.
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He says, you know what? I'll give you up to half the kingdom, whatever it is.
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And she comes back with a stripper request.
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I want the head of John the Baptist.
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And that coward who says the scripture says he loved John.
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He sent and had him beheaded and brought that stripper, the head of John the Baptist.
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You go, wow, she had a man killed.
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Don't see it that way.
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He silenced the voice of God in his life.
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He extinguished it.
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He snuffed it out.
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Would you do that? Oh, I wouldn't do it that way.
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No, you'll do it another way.
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Quit calling.
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Quit talking.
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Don't talk.
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They don't want to hang out with anybody.
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You do it other ways.
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He snuffed out the voice of God in his life.
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Now he has Jesus, the King of Kings, standing in front of him, and Jesus remained silent.
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That silence had to be deafening.
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And then they mocked him and treated Jesus with great contempt.
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Can you imagine how many times John the Baptist called Herod to repentance? I mean, he was put in prison for doing it.
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John was a preacher, man.
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He preached for a verdict.
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You're going to make a decision when John preached.
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So they send Jesus back to Pilate.
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Pilate then summons the chief priest and all the rulers of the people together.
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He says, hey, he incites the rebellion against the people, against the government.
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Examined him.
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Here it is again.
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He says, I found no fault in this man.
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He's done nothing deserving of death.
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Neither Herod found it.
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Therefore, I will punish him and release him.
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You go, well, wait a minute.
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He's done nothing wrong.
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I'm fixing to punish him and let him go.
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He says, all right, well, you know what I'll do? Maybe I'll just, I'll smack him around a little bit more and they'll be satisfied, he says.
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But he was obliged to give a prisoner over to them.
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It's interesting that if you, how the death sentences and all took place, they were sentenced today.
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They may die that night or tomorrow.
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So it's interesting that Barabbas most likely had stood before Pilate within 24 hours and they called for Barabbas to be released.
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He knew who Barabbas was.
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Barabbas was an insurrectionist.
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He was part of the zealotries.
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The zealots were the ones from Galilee that came down and they were always trying to overthrow Rome.
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Matter of fact, if you go back to Luke 13, there was a time which the Galileans were giving sacrifices in the synagogue and Pilate sends people in and it says he mingled their blood with the blood of the sacrifices.
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Pilate slaughtered the Galileans.
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He was ruthless and he said, you want Barabbas? And him wanting to release Jesus addressed them again and they said to them, crucify him, crucify him.
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He said, well I'll always at the time of Passover give you an opportunity to release a prisoner.
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Which one do you want? Do you want the king of the Jews? They cried out all the more, we do not want this man.
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We want Barabbas.
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Barabbas was a murderer and a thief.
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Pilate then goes out for the third time.
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He says, what evil has this man done? This time I got to hear Pilate's frustration.
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What in the world is going on? They would rather have this terrorist who wrecks everything in their city, who constantly keeps peace and upheaval.
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They would rather have this man than the guy that was going around raising people from the dead, feeding 5,000.
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He's got to be without words.
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And he says again, once again I find no fault demanding of his death.
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I will punish him and I will release him.
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It says then that Pilate took him and scourged him.
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We talk about scourge, we ain't just talking about smacking around.
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We're talking about raw torture.
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Beating the back.
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And when I say the backside, we're not talking about just from the top of your neck to your waist.
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The backside.
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From the top of your head to the bottom of your heel, beating it, ripping the flesh from the bone.
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That's what he's going to do.
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And after scourging him, shredding his flesh, it says the soldiers then twisted a crown of thorns on him, put it on his head.
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Put a purple robe on him and they came up to him and began to mock him, hail him king of the Jews.
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Slapping him in his face, mocking him as king of the Jews.
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He doesn't get mocked that way anymore because Jesus is the ascended king.
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But go to these liberating parades.
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See them on TV.
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See Jesus wearing a crown of thorns and gay pride gear.
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Seeing Jesus wearing a banner.
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I'm fired with homosexuality as he's carrying a cross.
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That's mockery.
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And it's at this point that Pilate then comes out to them again.
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He said, I'm bringing him out to you that you may know that there is no guilt in this man.
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Jesus then comes out.
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He's got the crown of thorns, the purple robe, and those famous words, behold the man.
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I believe at that point that Pilate is appealing to human sensibility.
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You may disagree with me.
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That's fine.
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Behold the man.
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Just look at him.
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Beaten to a pulp.
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We read it today.
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Keith read it.
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Isaiah 53.
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And it also said that he was marred beyond any visual.
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You couldn't even tell he was a man.
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So behold the man.
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Just look at him.
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He's beaten beyond belief.
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Just have some pity on him and let him go.
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Just let him go.
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He's beaten like that.
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He's not going to cause any problems for quite some time.
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Chief priest.
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Officers say to him, crucify him Pilate.
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Crucify him.
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It's interesting that the next thing Pilate says is he says, you take him.
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Another tactical way of not dealing with it.
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You take him and you crucify him.
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Did they even have the ability to do that? So Pilate once again trying to avoid being guilty of condemning him tries a tactical way of well maybe they'll just forget it.
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And then the Jews said to him, well we have a law and that law says because he makes himself out to be the son of God he should die.
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You understand that everything up until this point had been a accusation of political upheaval.
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It's at this point now this is theological.
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He has claimed to be the son of God and he's got to die.
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It's the first time Pilate has heard this.
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And how do we know that? Because the next verse says this, therefore when Pilate heard the statement he was terrified.
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So he went to the Praetorium, summoned Jesus to him again.
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He says, where are you from? Look, he wasn't asking Jesus are you from Galilee.
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He already knew that.
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He already knew he was from Galilee.
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So when he has the statement to him, hey this man claims to be God, now Pilate's going wait a second.
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I am now dealing with someone who's not just mere flesh and blood.
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I am dealing possibly with under his pantheon idea of deities a half God half man.
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That's why he says where are you from? That wouldn't make any sense.
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And Jesus gave him no answer.
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Pilate said you do not speak to me.
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You do not know that I have the authority to release you or to have you crucified.
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Interesting he says you don't speak to me.
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Don't you all this authority that I got? You ain't got no authority Pilate.
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You can't even make Jesus talk to you.
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You beat this man beyond belief.
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He's been mocked.
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You think that'd be enough to get a guy to talk to say he's innocent.
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And Jesus speaks not a word.
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He said you don't have any authority over me unless it had been given to you from above.
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Pilate knows that this is no ordinary man.
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It says that the one that had delivered me up to you Pilate will have a greater sin.
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Now whether he was speaking of Caiaphas or Judas, it's really irrelevant at this point.
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And as Pilate made efforts to release Jesus, but the Jews cried out all the more if you release this man you are no friend of Caesar and everyone makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.
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Now you do see what just happened in two verses.
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They went from we're standing on theological terms and we're going to serve our God.
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This man is blasphemed and now you know what we're we're going to lean on the pagan king to handle our dirty work.
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Pilate didn't hear this.
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He brought Jesus out.
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He set him down at the judgment seat.
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A place called the pavement.
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Interesting I've been to the fortress Antonio and there is a the pavement means a raised, the gabothum is a raised up piece of marble and in that very place they have from years of where they would sentence people to death and they would play games to get their clothing and you can still see some of that etched in the marble.
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It's pretty interesting.
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Not saying that's what it was from this.
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I'm just saying and that is that that place where Pilate says whom do you want me to release from you and he says Barabbas or Jesus the Christ.
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Basically you want this terrorist or you want the prince of peace and he knows that they have they have delivered Jesus over to him because they envy him.
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Remember they had already said back in the gospels we will not have this man rule over us and here it is the seventh time to Pilate it's confirmed that he is an innocent man.
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His wife as he is sitting on the judgment seat about to cast judgment on Jesus and a note comes out to him and it says honey don't do anything to this righteous man.
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I have some crazy dreams about this guy.
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He's innocent and the chief priest and the elders then persuaded the crowd to continue to ask for Barabbas and then so that they could put Jesus to death.
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He asked the pointed question who do you want Barabbas or Jesus the Christ and they said Barabbas.
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I ask you what in your own life have you traded the king of kings for for your Barabbas.
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What has caused discomfort in your life with your walk with the Lord that you have said you know what instead of Jesus I'd rather take Barabbas.
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Pilate then said again what evil has this man done and they kept shouting all the more and Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing but rather a riot was about to break out he then took water washed his hands in front of the crowd saying I'm innocent of this man's blood see to it that you do it yourself.
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It's the eighth time Pilate confirms that Jesus was an innocent man.
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Eight times.
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Now it was a day of preparation for the Passover.
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It was about the sixth hour and Pilate brings Jesus before them and he says behold your king.
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Man that's great that excites my soul because that was my king that was the king that was standing there in my place my warrior king was fixing to go to battle for me behold your king and they cried out with a loud voice away with him away with him crucify him and he said shall I crucify your king and the chief priest answered and said to him we have no king but Caesar.
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Remember they were standing on theological truths they were standing on their dedication to Yahweh and now what did they do in a split second they now pledge allegiance to a pagan king and then it closes that section with this so Pilate then delivered him over to be crucified.
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Judas delivered Jesus over to the band of soldiers with a kiss.
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Jesus was delivered to Caiaphas and Sanhedrin.
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Judas was delivered by Pilate from Caiaphas to Pilate and then it says that Pilate then delivered Jesus to be crucified.
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You hear that word delivered delivered delivered delivered delivered.
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There's a theological word that takes place a lot of times in scripture and it's called concurrence and as we're going through Genesis we're seeing that we're seeing what God was doing for Joseph he was doing at the same time he had something another plan going at the same time well I tell you what on that day when he when Pilate delivered Jesus up to be crucified that God was delivering him up for the salvation of his people.
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Romans 4 says that he was delivered up for our trespasses.
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Romans 8 said that God spared not his own son but delivered him up for our transgressions.